Impacts of start ups and SMEs on the nature of work and employment in vietnam perspectives from evolutionary economics

Le Anh Khanh
Minh | 187

Impacts of start-ups and SMEs on the
nature of work and employment in
Vietnam: Perspectives from
evolutionary economics
LE ANH KHANH MINH
The University of Queensland –

Abstract
Never has the trend of start-ups and small-and-medium enterprises
(SMEs) risen so rapidly in Vietnam. In this context, these new business
entities alter thoroughly the nature of work and employment in the
economy. The impacts can be studied using evolutionary economics
because the mainstream, traditional thoughts have failed to incorporate
institutional and social factors into analysis. While traditional schools of
thoughts view the main economic figure to be individual who is tasked
with making decisions at a period of time under resource scarcity,
recent heterodox perspectives start to adopt the fact that agents are
also subject to history and complex systems of rules. It is the meso-level
movements that drive evolutions in behaviours of the micro, individual
rule-carriers and in the macro domain of the whole industry or economy.
The continuum does not range from ‘micro-’ to ‘macro-’, but also
includes ‘meso-’ in between. Using micro-meso-macro framework from
the evolutionary school, the paper seeks to explain the impacts of startups and SMEs at micro- and macro-level by looking from the mesoperspective. In doing so, this exploratory paper also aims at laying out
ideas for further research into the economic dynamics of start-ups, while
adding, though little and incremental, contribution to the literature on
evolutionary economics in Vietnam.
Keywords: start-ups and SMEs in Vietnam; nature of work and
employment; evolutionary economics; micro-meso-macro; rule; complex

system.

1. Introduction
Although the start-up and SME trend is blooming in Vietnam, the
start-up ecosystem remains an understudied aspect. The rise of these


new economic entities has altered the nature of work and employment
in the country. More focus is placed on soft skill training and extra-


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curricular experience rather than traditional education. Huge and
successful companies now invest more in new businesses and talents.
The idea of life-long career in one organization is becoming less
common, replaced by the tendency to hop between jobs and
freelancing. These are only a few movements in the recent employment
scene in Vietnam. In the near future when there are more resources
pouring into innovation and entrepreneurship, more changes can be
expected. It is time to start studying start-ups and SMEs and their
impacts on the economy.
As innovation, entrepreneurship, start-ups and SMEs are dynamic
by nature, frameworks from mainstream, neoclassical economics may
not serve well to analyse the impacts of them on the nature of work.
Therefore, the author feels the need to take the perspective of
evolutionary economics, in particular the micro-meso-macro framework
by Dopfer et al (2004), to look at the changes. At this stage of research,
the paper aims to provide an exploratory survey of the impacts that
start-ups and SMEs have on the employment scene in Vietnam.

The outline of the paper is as followed: First, the paper seeks to
provide an overview of evolutionary economics and its main idea in
contrast with mainstream neoclassical school, followed by the micromeso-macro framework. It then discusses the impacts of start-ups and
SMEs at three levels: meso, micro and macro. Among these, the mesolevel analysis is further divided into four categories based on the
taxonomy of rules: cognitive, behavioural, social and technical. For
readers’ convenience, these impacts are denoted as [Mic], [Mac], [C],
[B], [S] and [T], corresponding to micro-, macro-impacts, cognitive,
behavioural, social and technical rules. A full summary table of these
impacts can be found in the conclusion part of this paper.

2. The Evolutionary Economics Perspectives
2.1. Evolutionary economics – An overview
Evolution economics emerged as a new economic school of thought
only a few decades ago. However, the original idea of the branch was
rooted since the late nineteenth century. In a 1898 article, Thorstein
Veblen called into question “Why is economics not an evolutionary
science?” and coined the idea of a new branch of economic thinking –
evolutionary economics. Veblen argued, in the article, that economics,
as with other modern sciences, are evolutionary sciences (Veblen,
1898). Since then, many famous economists have made significant
contributions to this modern, evolutionary line of thinking. Besides
Veblen with the notion of institutions, habits and norms as determinants
of economic choice, there have also been other economic philosophers
who have exerted considerable influence on the branch. These include
Joseph Schumpeter with his work on entrepreneurship, innovation and


creative destruction, Friedrich Hayek with his notion of self-organization
via knowledge, Kenneth Boulding and the parallel comparison

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between biological economics and evolutionary economics, Richard
Nelson and Sidney Winter with their evolutionary theory of economic
change, and Geoffrey Hodgson with his extended work on social
institutions. Following the tradition of evolutionary economics, there
have also been recent economists in the field: Kurt Dopfer, John Foster
and Jason Potts with their micro-meso-macro framework for economic
analysis, Jason Potts and Brian Loasby with complex system theory,
Peter Earl and Tim Wakeley on business economics and consumer
theory, and Thomas Mandeville on information economics.
In essence, evolutionary economics takes its main idea from biology’s
Darwinism – it treats Darwin’s evolutionary theory as a starting point of
the new thinking line. Whereas the main analysis figure of biology is
gene and genetic material, those of evolutionary economics are rules or
routines (Boulding, 1983). Dopfer & Potts (2015) denoted a rule as the
idea that organizes actions or resources into operations and, as such,
economic actions or resources are the product of rules. At individual
level, routines or rules are the knowledge within the socio-economic
context that shapes human’s cognition, behaviour, convention, and
habit. At firm level, routines are what determine corporate structure,
organizational culture and features of the goods and services that a firm
offers to the market. These routines are emergent phenomena that are
socially sourced, although they may have started with individual
experimentation (Earl, 2017). As with the passing down of genes to later
generations, evolutionary economics places emphasis on the passing
down of rules and routines in the economy across time. Mutations are
viewed as similar to innovation, which is an origination of new rules and

routines in the economic complex system. Innovation ultimately
changes relative competitive fitness of rivals. Any rules or routines that
have the best competitive fitness are retained and replicated by other
rule carriers, leading to wider application of the routines or rules on
which the success was based. The process of changing rules is
necessarily the process of knowledge growth, which in turn, is key to
economic development.
Darwin’s biological evolution
Gene and genetic material
Selection and passing down of genes
best adapted to changes in external
context
Mutation

Competition, selection, diffusion of
rules and routines with competitive
fitness to the system
Innovation, knowledge growth,
origination of new rules and routines

Figure 1. Evolutionary economics and Darwin's biological evolution
By definition, Veblen notes that evolutionary economics “must be the
theory of a process of cultural growth as determined by the economic


interest, a theory of cumulative sequence of economic institutions
stated in terms of the process itself”. His view places emphasis on the


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feature of path dependency, co-evolutionary process, and sets of
institutions in economic analysis. In other words, economics is not
merely a computational cost-benefit analysis; rather, economics should
also incorporate insights from other sciences that study human’s nature
and behaviour, such as sociology, history, philosophy, and moral
studies. Movements in the economic sphere, including behaviour,
decision, thinking, and evolution, are all products of the interactions in
the complex system of rules and routines throughout history and across
context.
Evolutionary economics differ from the currently dominant,
mainstream neoclassical economics in many ways. Firstly, the two lines
of economic thinking hold contrast views on the nature of human, or
more broadly, economic agents. In mainstream economics, the
economic human, homo economicus, is portrayed as having perfect
rationality and computational capability. He is self-interested and utilitymaximizing creatures whose quest is to optimize his welfare under
certain resource constraint. Meanwhile, evolutionary economics
consider human to be product of contexts. This is in line with Veblen’s
institutionalist view that human is a creature of habit that follows
socially embedded rules and routines unconsciously. In deed, we do not
simply gather information from the environment, compare the cost and
benefit of each scenario and make decisions. Our actions are drawn
from a pool of habits, depending on their contingencies. The use of a
habit reinforces its probability of being chosen again in the future. In
this way, there is no given set of ranked preferences, but a set of habits
with varied propensities (Veblen, 1898).
Secondly, evolutionary economics also differ on the assumption of
information in the economy. Mainstream thinking assumes an
environment of perfect information, where everyone is fully aware of all
metrics and variables necessary for making decisions in his or her best

interest. This is not usually the case in reality as human is subject to
bounded rationality with a certain set of available information (Simon,
1972). As a consequence of this imperfect information world, there exist
transaction cost, search cost, cost of switching or changing mindset and
behaviour, marketing cost of making the products known to target
consumers, and barriers to entry and exit. Evolutionary economics
assumes the above as problems of knowledge.
Thirdly, evolutionary thinking does not view the economy to tend
toward a state of equilibrium. In mainstream economics, after a change
in the economic system, such as a price change, the system eventually
pulls back to the state before the change happens. This reflects a
conception of time as logical and reversible (Robinson, 1980). In this
sense, any future events can be predicted upon probabilities of
scenarios. Recent heterodox economics hold a contrary view of
irreversible time flow: Any disturbance in the economic system does not
lead back to the previous state, but to a new state of new habits and


their attached propensities. As Bausor (1982, 1984) and Shackle (2010)
denoted, a particular choice results in a certain outcome and


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new information, which alters perception and worldview of the decisionmaker, who would then change the choice in the next stages of time,
making an endless loop. Evolutionary economics also emphasizes the
role of history and institutions in economic evolution. Small shocks can
lead to big difference in the long run, creating system lock-ins that
make it impossible to go back and do differently. As such, evolutionary

economics do not see the economy under the equilibrium approach.
Instead, it pictures the system as a process of interactions and selection
of rules and routines underlying micro- and macro-level decisions and
behaviours: a co-evolutionary process. Economic evolution is essentially
evolution of knowledge embedded in the socio-economic ground of
society.
Mainstream economics
Human agent as self-interested, utility-maximising
creature with perfect rationality and hedonistic
computational capability
Perfect, symmetric information

Logical, reversible, ergodic view of
time; future events happen according
to predicted probabilities

Historical, irreversible, non-ergodic
view of time; small shocks lead to
big changes and system lock-ins;
history and institution matters, loop
of new information and new
decisions

The economy tends toward an
equilibrium state after shocks

No equilibrium; the economy cannot
return to the state before shock; coevolutionary process of information,
rules and decisions keep the economy
changing

Figure 2. Mainstream economics and Evolutionary
economics

3. Micro-meso-macro
A
framework used to analyze the evolution of economic system is the
micro-meso-macro framework. Dopfer et al. (2004) developed the
framework based on the ontology of evolutionary economics that the
economic system, in nature, is a “population of rules, a structure of
rules, and a process of rules”. The authors do not see the division of
economics into macro and micro sufficient to examine economic
evolution: “From the evolutionary perspective, one cannot directly sum
micro into macro”. In line with this thinking, economics is not merely
defined by decisions and behaviours of individuals, firms, and the


aggregate consequences. Indeed, there must also be consideration for
history, institutions, norms, and rules in the


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society. From micro-level to macro-level, there needs an intermediate
level that describes the underlying institutional factors that are actually
driving economic changes. This level is the meso-level lying in between
the micro-macro continuum.
Micro
Individual agent

Figure 3. Unit of analysis
Dopfer et al (2004) characterize the economy as a highly complex
system of rules, which interact with each other and change over time.
These dynamic interplay and evolution of rules give rise to new rules or
enhance existing ones, driving economic evolution. These drivers
happen at the meso-level of the system in a process of origination,
adoption, and retention of rules. A meso unit consists of a generic rule
and its population of actualization, which is made up of agents and
agencies carrying the rule. From micro perspective, economic agent is
“a rule-using and rule-making animal”; in other words, human is a
product of institutions, expectations, surroundings, that creates and
follows these rules simultaneously and unconsciously. Such rules shape
the cognitive reasoning and behaviour of economic agents, such as
perception of work, organizational culture and division of labour. From
macro perspective, meso units make up the entire system or structure
of concern. Many rules from the broad environment, including economic,
social, technological, political, ecological, and so forth, all dynamically
interact and construct the big picture, particularly an industry or a
whole economy. The meso units within a system define the features of
such system, such as industrial organization, market structure,
management and governance. Any change in generic rules at mesolevel induces changes at other levels. In the micro domain, it is the
change in the cognition and behaviour of rule carriers and how they
interact, whereas in the macro domain, it is the change in the
coordination structure between meso units.

4. Impacts on the Nature of Work and Employment
4.1. The meso domain
At meso level, the main unit of analysis is the meso unit, comprising
of a generic rule and its population of actualization. One way to classify
generic rules is the taxonomy of rules (Dopfer & Potts, 2015), which

divides rules into subject rules and object rules. Subject rules are those
that shape agents’ internal mind and external interaction with other
subjects, which are then categorized into cognitive and behavioural
rules. Object rules are rules for organizing things, either between many
subjects or objects, and further comprise of social and technical rules.


Generic Rules
Subject
Cognitive

Figure 4. Rule taxonomy
In the case of Vietnam, the trend of start-ups and SMEs has given rise
to changes in many rules and routines in the economy. The rules not
only originate, diffuse and retain by themselves, but also affect and be
affected by other rules, creating a co-evolutionary process of cognitive,
behavioural, social and technical rules in the economy.
Cognitive rules [C]
Cognitive rules are subject rules for thinking and perceiving the world
that operate in the internal mind of the subject – the economic agent. In
Vietnam, the perception and expectation of job and career have
transformed dramatically since the rise of start-ups and SMEs. Office
hours are still 8 hours per working day, but the actual hours people are
on the job can exceed the total amount of time they spend in the office
[denoted C1; a complete table of impacts can be found in the
conclusion]. With the aid of technology [T1, T2] jobs can now be brought
to places other than the office, even home and on holiday, so people
can be “at work” outside office hours [C2]. The emergence of new types
of jobs on part-time, contractual or voluntary terms [Mac2] leads to the
concept “freelance” [C3]. Prior to the wave of start-ups, labour would

view employment as having a job with long-term contract and secured
wage and benefit. However, people now also see freelance, or selfemployment, as a type of employment where labour do not work for a
firm or an employer, but manage their own business. Due to the
contractual, short-term nature of freelancing jobs, freelancers are also
seen as job-hopping individuals [C4]: They switch fast between jobs and
can work on many jobs at a time. The retention rate of freelancers is
much lower than of payroll staff, but that does not mean payroll staff do
not job-hop. Such shifts to flexible working hours and spaces,
freelancing, and job-hopping have altered the traditional mind-set for
life-long career in one single organization [C5]. As society becomes
more open to new types of work, it is possible that a person has
experience across many positions and organizations.
An entrepreneur, whether on payroll or self-employed, in this new
scenario also looks different from the one before the start-up trends. He
is a risk-taking, failure-tolerating [C6] person who desires to have his
own business [C7], as well as a self-starter [C8]. To do so, one must be
aware that an inventor is not necessarily an innovator: A new invention
or discovery does not always lead to a breakthrough. If one is to
characterize the new invention as a codified rule or knowledge, there
must also be tacit knowledge to complement and diffuse the invention
into an innovation (Leonard & Sensiper, 1998). Tacit knowledge is the
knowledge that is



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difficult to codified into writing or visualization or transferred between
agents. Examples of tacit knowledge include interpersonal skills, ability
to build network, leadership traits, and intuition. Hence, employers in

the new scenario place a stronger focus on soft skills to complement the
codified knowledge from their academic education [C9]. Furthermore, in
early stages of operations, start-ups and SMEs do not usually have clear
and specialized division of tasks inside the organization [B1, B2]. One
person may take on many tasks of different functions. Therefore, there
is also a tendency of employers to develop a diverse set of skills instead
of focusing on a narrow specialization [C10]. For example, someone who
is in charge of communication may also take on marketing, or one who
works in the finance department can also do crowd-funding for the
organization. Because of these changes in the nature of work and
division of labour, the internal cognitive rule of economic agents –
labour – also experience a change from recognition of tacit knowledge
(soft skills) and multi-tasking ability.
Behavioural rules [B]
Behavioural rules are embedded in the subject’s mind, operating his
or her interaction with the external environment. Vietnam’s
employment scene has not stayed out of the world changes in the way
people interact with each other in the workplace. As start-ups are
brought about by self-starters [C8] who desire to have their own
business [C7], these small companies are usually short in finance and
thus, lack of staff to cover every area of the business. They manage to
operate with limited resources by having the small personnel to multitask different functions. This means that the division of labour is not
clear between staff [B1]; nor is the task division specialized to suit each
person’s capabilities. One staff can work on jobs of many functions, and
the tasks can intersect with the others, creating a complex personnel
structure [B2]. Unclear division of labour leads to the need to
communicate for better collaboration, resulting in a mind-set toward
cooperation and network [B3]. Also arise in this behavioural rule change
is the notion of appraisal and feedback mechanism [B4].
Along with the rising need to cooperate, another result of the lack in

human resources is the requirement of independence [B5]. With limited
resources and the demand to be multi-tasking, personnel of start-ups
must be able to work independently without little supervision. This is
also the common requirement in job advertisement nowadays. For startups with insufficient internal capabilities, outsourcing parts of its
functions is an option to get the job done [B6]. Outsourcing activities
not only give rise to freelancing [C3], but also reorganizes the labour
market: By introducing new types of jobs, such as part-time,
contractual, or voluntary to the market [Mac2], these start-ups become


competitors to full-time job companies, competing for labour supply and
talents [Mac2].


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Changes in labour division and mind-set for cooperation affect the
physical organization of interpersonal organization [B7]. Previously,
each firm would have its own office, however small it might be. For
larger firms, it is common to see long lines of desks separated into
cubes so that each employee has his own workstation. This is because
the jobs in large firms are specialized to each staff; there is still the
need to communicate, but the interactions do not need to be as intense
and frequent as in start-ups. With the rise of start-ups and increasing
need to collaborate, these small firms have to work around its budget
constraint by arranging all its functions in one office space.
Alternatively, firms can choose to share the workplace with others, as
seen in co-working spaces and hubs [Mic2] where a large officefurnished hall hosts employees from many different start-ups. Apart
from changes to open, collaborative workplace, there emerges the habit

of working from home and round-the-hour work, thanks to advances in
technology [T1, T2]. In addition to changes in physical workplace, the
total time spent on the job also faces tremendous extension from 8
hours to however long the job requires [C1].
Collaborative mind-set also gives rise to the supportive attitude of
successful businesses towards start-ups and SMEs. In neoclassical
economics and in earlier times, firms are seen as competitors to each
other, competing for resources and revenue. Large, incumbent firms in
the market would see new firms as a threat to their profit and would
take strategies to hinder their entry into market. Beside such
substitution view, the late reality has also embraced a complementarity
view that both large firms and start-ups can be beneficial from strategic
alliances. Embedded pedagogic nature [B8], along with expected value
in return, drives successful businesses to invest and build capacities in
start-ups in many forms, ranging from angel investment, venture
capital, to incubation and idea camp [Mic3].
Social rules [S]
Social rules are object rules that bring together people into social
organizations. While behavioural rules define the way people interact
with social surroundings within the subject’s mind, social rules look at it
from an external perspective, examining how many subjects influence
and get influenced by others. Social organizations exist in many forms,
from firms, hierarchies, networks, to markets, laws, and other
institutions.
In Vietnam, there have been dramatic changes in social organizations
since the rise of start-ups and SMEs. Firms have started to adopt a less
hierarchical management system [S1], allowing more communication
and feedback between staff and functions [B4]. It is less common to see
U-form structure of firm, in which the firm is clearly divided into
functions (e.g production, marketing, finance, and research), with

management at the top notch. More of M-form structure is embraced, in


which the firms is divided into sets of miniature U-form companies, each
handling a particular product line (Williamson, 1991)). In this
organizational


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structure, each sub-firm acts as a sub-system of the whole one that is
independent in terms of making profit and tactical operations. The head
office remains in charge of overall strategic management to align all
sub-firms with overall direction, marketing and funding. Just as in startups where each staff can be doing various tasks of different functions,
sub-firms have sovereignty and flexibility in allocating resources to
internal departments. For large firms, this decomposable structure [S2]
is also a way to reduce risks of shocks on the entire company because
the system is composed of sub-systems. In case of disturbances, only a
part of the firm is damaged, while the others are not harmed as much.
Industrial structure has undergone major changes, too. The
substitution and competition view is not as dominant as before; rather,
actors in industries now have a more open view towards
complementarity [S3]. Network of firms and start-ups [S4] are formed
and serve as platforms for knowledge sharing and exchange between
those who would previously compete for resources. These networks can
be in the form of forum, strategic alliance, partnership, competition, and
co-working space [Mac2]. This movement has transformed industrial
organization into a complex network structure where entrepreneurs and
expertise not only compete for financial and human resources but also
interact and share ideas together [Mac2].

For such networks and alliances to sustain, an essential institution is
trust [S5]. Trust is an underlying element of interpersonal interaction
that helps reduce transaction costs and failure risks. In particular, in the
case of recruitment, there is a growing trend of recruitment within a
network of entrepreneurs who recruiters would expect to be like-minded
and passionate about start-ups. Cooperation between actors also
requires trust as a foundation for them to work together. Here, the
institution acts to bind actors to their commitment, or else they would
face distrust and lose credit in the start-up community.
Technical rules [T]
If social rules are rules for organizing human subjects, technical rules
are for organizing matter and know-how. Changes in these rules are
best seen in several advances in technology, especially in information
and communication, which have been facilitating the emergence of
start-ups and SMEs. Technical rules are embodied in electronic device
(computer, laptop, smartphone, and tablet) [T1], connection network
[T2] (the Internet, wireless connection, and 4G), and websites,
applications and social media channels [T1, T2, T3, T4]. These rule
changes have enhanced the access, processing and communication of
information and knowledge in the economy. According to Live Stat
Internet (Internet Live Stats, 2017), more than 49 million people in
Vietnam had access to the Internet in 2016, making a penetration rate
of 52% out of total population.


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Electronic devices and Internet connection have made possible the
concept of work-from-home and round-the-hour work [C1, C2]. Anyone

with a laptop or smartphone can work, whether he is at home, on the
road, or at any other places with Internet connection. In Vietnam, cafes
and restaurants are now places for people to come and do their work
[Mic2, Mic3], especially for those who are at the start of their
entrepreneurship and cannot afford an office yet. For example, jobs can
be worked on on-road when Uber or Grab drivers receive their trip
details on screen, without having to talk or report to a real-person
coordinator. The Internet also gives rise to platforms for project
management and teamwork [T3]. Asana, Zoho and Slack are some of
the commonly used applications for collaboration, task management
and progress tracking in small start-ups, so the nature of work is now
less physical and more online [C2]. The perception of workplace is no
longer confined in office desks and cubes, but extends to outside the
office and on the Internet [B7]. The Internet and the rise of websites
boost the communication of knowledge; several sites, forums, and blogs
have been set up to share experience and know-how to others who are
in need of expertise [T4]. Contents on these websites are contributed
voluntarily by the community based on the tendency of natural
pedagogy [B8].
Self-employment [C3] also benefits from technological changes. More
people are now participating in e-commerce and become owners of
their own businesses thanks to e-commerce platforms such as Lazada
and Vatgia [T5]. Besides online retaling, transportation and shipping
have also seen self-employed actors, as in the case of Uber, Grab, and
Delivery Now. Self-employees and start-ups can as well market their
services faster on a wider scope by using social media channels such as
Facebook and Zalo.
Furthermore, advances in technology facilitate the coordination
process in the economic system [T6]. In particular, they match
demanders and suppliers of resources and labour services. For example,

websites such as Upwork, Vlance and Vietfreelance bring together those
looking for short-term job and those needing to outsource part of their
operations. Websites about start-ups such as Khoinghiepvietnam.org
and Startupvietnam.org are also where investors and starting
entrepreneurs find matching partners. Forums and social media of startup-related interests are some other channels for people to look for likeminders. In short, changes in technical rules, specifically in technology,
have made significant transformation in the nature of work and
employment by reducing transaction costs as well as facilitating
communication between agents.


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5. The micro domain
Changes in embedded rules of society affect the way economic
agents – individuals and firms
– make decision and behave. For individuals, particularly entrepreneurs,
employees and students, cognitive, behavioural, social and technical
rules work together to shape their view of work nature and employment.
In the new employment scene, a labour now has certain portraits: He is
pro-active, self-starting, and initiative in making decisions about his
career [C3, C4]. He copes better with disturbance, risk and failure, as
well as has more flexibility and resilience [C6]. He is competent in terms
of knowledge and skills, and is able of multi-tasking [C9, C10].
Enabled by social [S] and technical [T] rules in the meso domain,
economic actors have also modified their decisions and behaviours to
adapt to changes in routines. They now demand start-up related
services [Mic1]. As soft skills become essential requirements for jobs,
more and more individuals now develop demand for opportunities to
acquire these skills. In universities, students are becoming more
interested in extra-curricular activities. Whereas previously, students

only focused on studying, they are now more engaged in clubs and
activities outside the class to gain the tacit knowledge that cannot be
otherwise taught in their majors. Young people also opt to take training
courses on soft skills such as communication, public speaking,
presentation and teamwork. Besides activities and soft skills, there is
also a growing demand for gaining practical experience. Internship or
work experience has now become an important element in the profile of
those who seek good jobs. Furthermore, there is also a desire to
showcase start-up ideas and run one’s own business, shown through
participation in competition and start-up network events. In short,
changes in rules of work have allowed and encouraged labour,
especially students, employees and entrepreneurs, to become more
capable and prepared to cope with the fast-changing, more demanding
employment scene.
From the above demands come accordingly supplies [Mic2]. Following
the start-up trend, many skill-related services are born to meet new
demands in the employment field [Mic]. Training centres such as YUP
Institute Vietnam, Youth Spark Career Readiness by Microsoft and
Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Information
Technology Park (ITP) by Vietnam National University, thrive on the need
to gain soft skills of students and young entrepreneurs. Several clubs
and organizations seek to provide opportunities for young people. Even
clubs that work for causes other than youths also recruit these targets
into their teams, so more are added to the overall opportunity pool.
Some popular organizations within the young community are


VietAbroader, Project Sugar, and International Youth Club (an affiliate of
the Communist Youth Union), to name a few.

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The need for increasing teamwork and collaboration in start-ups and
SMEs gives rise to a new form of workplace: co-working spaces and
hubs. In Hanoi, popular places for entrepreneurs are HATCH! NEST
Hanoi, HanoiHub, 5DESIRE Co-working space, Hub.IT and Up Co.
Meanwhile, young people in Ho Chi Minh City turn to Work Saigon,
Dreamplex, Circo, Fablab Saigon, and Citihub (Shona, 2016a). These
hubs provide a wide variety of services, ranging from hot desk, meeting
room to Internet connection, printing and document storage. Not only
do they build up infrastructure for the start-up community, they also
support young entrepreneurs with events and workshops, as well as
chances to network with investors and other entrepreneurs. Saigon
Coworking even offers legal, financial and accounting consulting as part
of their package. These hubs tend to locate where the environment is
calm and quiet and there is good view out on the city or green spaces,
such as Work Saigon equipped with swimming pool and organic garden.
There is also the search website Coworker.com where users can visit
and compare different hubs in Vietnam. Cooperation and network
among firms lead to the physical organization in which these firms are
located into start-up districts, such as Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park (HHTP),
Saigon Hi-tech Park (SHTP) and Quang Trung Software City. These are
areas where many companies are based, reducing proximity among
them and fostering more collaboration.
Besides the increasing supply of co-working spaces and hubs,
restaurants and cafes have also transformed their functions to suit the
trend. Previously, these places were mainly for eating and social
hangouts, but cafes have now become destinations for working and

meeting as well. Toong and Clickspace in Hanoi are typical model of a
mix of start-up hub and coffee shop. Besides, 24/7 cafes are also spots
for working, such as Thuc Coffee and The Factory in Ho Chi Minh City.
The third change in the micro domain is the rise of new economic
actors that specialize on supporting start-ups and new businesses
[Mic3]. Venture capital is a kind of investment by wealthy individuals as
part of their investment portfolio (Velayanikal, 2014). IDG Venture
Vietnam, CyberAgent Venture, DFJ VinaCapital, and Prosperous Vietnam
Investment are some popular venture capitals that have successfully
invested in businesses like Vietnamworks, VinaGame, Vatgia, Foody,
Tiki, and Yeah1 (Khoi Nghiep, 2016). Firms and organizations, which
were previously not related to start-ups, are now developing programs
to support new businesses, such as FPT Ventures, the Communist Youth
Union, Ho Chi Minh City Start-up and Innovation Fund (HSIF), and even
the Ministry of Science and Technology. Next, there are incubators to
provide entrepreneurs training and support for start-ups in their first
stages of development. Some examples of incubation programs in
Vietnam are the government-led Vietnamese Silicon Valley Project,
Hatch!, Founder’s Institute, X-Incubator, and Vuon Uom Vat


200 | ICUEH2017

Gia (Shona, 2016b). In addition to the above new actors, there are also
angel investors, non-profit organizations, and competition organizers in
the start-up scene.
The next change in the micro domain is in the emergence of other
related actors in the start-up scene. Following the demand and supply of
start-ups and supporting services are the rise of further related actors,
such as book authors, websites, support centres, and television

programs. Unlike previous times, there are now books written by
successful innovators to share their experience on their start-up journey.
Besides books from Vietnamese authors such as Smart-up (Khoi nghiep
thong minh, by Ngo Cong Truong) and Start-up Handbook (So tay khoi
nghiep, by many authors), those from international writers such as Zero
to one (by Peter Thiel), and Business model generation (by Alexander
Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur) are also titles to look for (Son, 2016).
Many websites are published to cover news about start-ups, match
investor and entrepreneur, and build network: These include Lifechanging Books (Tu sach nen tang doi doi, by Dang Le Nguyen Vu),
Start-up Vietnam (startupvietnam.org), Khoi Nghiep (khoi.nghiep.vn)
and Khoi Nghiep Tre (khoinghieptre.vn). Support centres such as the
Business Start-up Support Centre (BSSC) were born. News media also
feature a column on their newspapers for start-up related news, as seen
on Thanh Nien News, Tuoi Tre News, and VnExpress. In addition,
television broadcasters now develop programs about start-ups, too,
such as VTV with Start-up Trip (Chuyen xe khoi nghiep) and HTV with
Start-up Cafe (Ca phe khoi nghiep).

6. The macro domain
The macro perspective looks at the changes in work nature and
employment as changes of rules and of the populations carrying the
rules. These rules are cognitive, behavioural, social and technical rules,
which all develop and interact in a dynamic way, resulting in a coevolutionary process that shape movements of rule populations in
society. Rule populations include but are not limited to, entrepreneurs,
employees, students, firms, investors, and media agents. In short, the
evolution of work and employment nature in Vietnam is a process of
enhancing existing rules [Mac1] while constantly leaning towards the
‘new’ [Mac2].
Several of the ‘new’, influenced by changes in rules and routines of
economic actors, can be observed since the rise of start-ups and SMEs.

Less fixed-term, full time employment [C3, C4, C5] and intersecting
labour division [B1, B2, B3, B6] have led to the rise of new types of job
contract in the labour market: short-term, voluntary, or part-time jobs.
New expertise, such as entrepreneurship and innovation management,
emerges as the result of increasing demand for information and
knowledge in the economy. The tendency for network and collaboration


has paved way for partnership and alliance between previously
competitors in the economy, leading to physical organization for
cooperation such as co-working offices and start-ups districts.


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| 201

Following the changes in rules, new products and services are born,
as well as supply and, at the same time, demand for these products and
services. There are now markets for labour, talents investments, funds,
training courses, competitions and awards, as well as books and
programs on entrepreneurship and innovation to meet the trend of
start-ups. Several names and brands emerge, as do the actors behind
these names: HATCH! NEST, 5DESIRE, Dreamplex and CitiHub for coworking spaces; IDG Venture Vietnam, CyberAgent Venture, DFJ
VinaCapital, and Prosperous Vietnam Investment for venture capitals
and funds; Vietnamese Silicon Valley Project, HATCH!, Founder’s
Institute, and X-Incubator for incubation programs. There are also book
titles such as Smart-up, Start-up Handbook, Zero to one, and Business
model
generation;
websites

such
as
Start-up
Vietnam
(startupvietnam.org), Khoi Nghiep (khoi.nghiep.vn) and Khoi Nghiep Tre
(khoinghieptre.vn); support centres such as the Business Start-up
Support Centre (BSSC) and as in co-working hub providers. Media
channels are also new actors in the start-up scene: Thanh Nien New,
Tuoi Tre News, VnExpress with columns for start-ups, VTV with Start-up
Trip (Chuyen xe khoi nghiep) and HTV with Start-up Cafe (Ca phe khoi
nghiep).
In essence, the entry of new actors and the formation of new markets
for start-up related services reflect an allocation of resources to the
‘new’ in the economy. In addition, there is also a reallocation of
resources towards start-ups and supporting activities. For example,
organizations, whose businesses or purposes were not related to startups, are now becoming more involved in the scene. In 2015, FPT Group
– a leading information technology company in Vietnam, launched its
venture capital arms FPT Venture (FPT, 2015). Life-changing books was
initiated in 2012 by CEO Dang Le Nguyen Vu and is now affiliated with
his coffee brand Trung Nguyen Group. The Communist Youth Union,
Youth Cultural Centre, Women’s Union, Ministry of Science and
Technology and other governmental bodies are now offering short
courses, mentor programs and competitions for the start-up community
(Van, 2012; Anh, 2017). More widely seen, cafes, restaurants, and
bookstores are investing more in their facilities and services, such as
24/7 opening hours, broadband connection, furnishing and decorations,
to target at young entrepreneurs. Moreover, universities are now
placing stronger emphasis on entrepreneurship. Curricula and
assessment now have more elements of teamwork, communication or
research skills, which are those that will be required in the real working

environment. Students are also encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities and university’s student clubs. Furthermore, the
start-up community also witness the rise of networks and alliances
between entrepreneurs and start-ups. Competitions, co-working spaces,
incubation programs, and idea camps are where young people can meet